


Bereft - Desert Maze

by theMiragePrismatic



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Missing Scenes, Tagged as Needed, crosspost, crosspost from fanfiction.net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-15 02:57:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8039752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theMiragePrismatic/pseuds/theMiragePrismatic
Summary: Originally posted on Fanfiction.net on 6/1/2011 Missing scenes from the 9th episode of Young Justice (Season One): Bereft. How did the team cope or did not  cope without their memories, without each other in an unknown place?





	1. Dead Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: So, how did Kid Flash and Artemis even get to that shack in the middle of the desert?

 

Artemis stumbled through the thick shifting sands, the coolness of the night pressing in on her face a sharp contrast to the hotness of the sand beneath her boots. Her head throbbed in pain and her vision crossed, blurred and slid out violently out of focus, strands of hair floating in front of her eyes.

She stumbled to the top of a dune and cried out, as her ankle buckled sending her sprawling into the sand. Artemis turned her face on her side and struggled to her feet beneath her but her muscles gave out and she gratefully succumbed to darkness...

* * *

Kid Flash woke up to sunlight and burning sand. His face was half in the sand. He groaned and rolled over; moaning as the sunlight burned more brightly into his eyes. What he wouldn't give for those mask lenses right now...wait.

_Sand? Beach?_

He shot up but was instantly A; disappointed and B: in pain. There was miles of sand and a killer headache just decided to announce itself, throbbing through his skull and ringing in his head. Pinpricks of light danced in his eyes.

He rubbed his eyes and pulled his goggles down, breathing a sigh of relief as the light from the burning sun dimmed. Wait...he looked down. He was in his uniform-why was this black? No wonder he was burning up.

Slowly, slowly he stood. He noticed he was standing at the foot of a sand dune. Cramps were just beginning to throb, the heat seeping through his uniform. He stretched, reaching to his toes, trying to get his muscles warmed up.

_Okay...I'm in the middle of a desert. But how did I get here?_

**Warm up when you can; unless you want your muscles to shred in mid-run.**

A desert with lots of sand, lots of burning, killer sun and no people in sight. Where was Flash? Where was everyone? Where was this? The Sahara?

Kid Flash sighed and started doing those yoga poses Flash had drilled into his head, trying to calm his mind down.

**When you find yourself in a fix, stay focused!**

Wait, what was that? He paused in bridge and craned his back to look again just to make sure he wasn't seeing a mirage or something. Was that...blonde hair? But it was draped across the top of a sand dune...

He fell; his hands slipped from under him and he collapsed right into the sand.

He rolled to his feet and jogged to the top of the dune-he didn't think he could run yet after laying out in the burning sun for god knew how long.

The hair (or whoever was attached to it) definitely wasn't moving. Kid Flash approached it cautiously, reached the top, bent down and tugged the hair. Nothing happened, unless you count the faint moan.

He crawled up a bit farther and found himself looking into the face of a girl with blonde hair, dressed in green sprawled almost facedown in the sand with a bow lying inches from her outstretched hand. There was a quiver full of arrows strapped to her back.

 _Well, it's not doing her any good suffocating in the sand._ he thought, carefully turning her over and clearing the sand off her face with his glove, getting the grit away from her eyes and mouth.

Wally's brow furrowed. _She kinda looks like GA..._ The blonde hair and the green costume were uncannily similar Green Arrow's.

 _Wow...she's really pretty._ He shook his head. Focus! He pressed a hand to her pulse and was relieved that it was still going and faint breath escaped from her.

"Good, she's still alive. But how did we get out here in the first place?" He looked up, scanning the horizon. _I need to get her under cover...passing out in this temperature can't be good._

He paused, spotting a distant blot.

"That looks like a shack. Maybe someone lives there..." He looked down at the girl in the sand and up at the sky. _We need to get out of this heat and the faster the better._ He hooked her bow over the arrow shafts on her back and scooped her up bridal style, wobbling slightly.

 _Collapse when you get to that shack._ He directed himself silently. _And not before!_ After taking another glance around, Kid Flash took a breath and took off down the dune and across the sand plains, a black blur across the sand.

* * *

 

The shack was a shack, empty and abandoned but despite the holes in the ceiling it shielded them from the worst of the sun's rays.

Wally let out an exhausted breath, sinking to his knee and laying the girl on the floor. Then he remembered it would painful to lay on arrows and a bow and gently took them off and laid them on the ground next to her. His vision was beginning to slide out of focus.

_I just...need a quick nap..._

* * *

 

The sun had cooled off but the girl was still out cold. Her breath came more naturally now, her skin had cooled off and she looked as if she was sleeping rather than unconscious.

Wally yawned, laying on his back next to the girl lazily before staggering to his feet, going outside to look around. The desert was devoid of any sign of life. Wally went back inside.

 _We should probably figure a way out of here. Maybe she knows how we got here._ He paused and frowned. _What if she's a bad guy?_ Then he dismissed the concern. _We're in the same boat here._

"Hey, Beautiful, " Wally knelt by her side, shaking her shoulder. "Wake up."

Her eyes fluttered as a low moan escaped her. Her hand went up to her head as her eyes cracked open, sitting forcing herself to sit up. She stared at him, eyes wide.

Where _was_ she? The last thing she remembered was collapsing in the sand!

The boy grinned and then she panicked, grabbing her bow and quiver and scrambling to the wall.

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay." he soothed. "I won't hurt you. I-I'm one of the good guys. You know. Kid Flash."

"Seen Kid Flash on the news." she countered. "He doesn't wear black."

'Kid Flash' looked down at himself. "Yeah, I'm little unclear on that myself."


	2. Parched

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An aquatic being without water is not in a good position
> 
> Originally posted on Fanfiction.net on - June 11th, 2011  
> Posted here and Edited on - September 17th, 2016

He faded in and out of conscious. Images and lights filtered through to his tired brain but none of it was making sense.

He felt cool water wrap around him but the heat was pressing in thick grains into his back and legs. He heard Tula's voice but he heard foreign chatter. He saw the sun but he was looking at Atlantis from the fin of a whale that pulled him without complaint through the seas.

" _I can't restore his memories in this condition."_

" _He needs immediate re-hydration. Call the bio-ship."_

" _It's out of range. But you can..."_

The voices began to fade, in and out as he struggled to snatch at the shadows and wraiths that drifted through his memory.

**His mother, sitting by his bed and making pictures in the water with her hands as she regaled him with an ancient legend.**

**King Orin, talking to his mother in the living room, while he, Tula and Garth shamelessly spied through the windows.**

He was moving; laying down on something-a bed perhaps- with faint voices burrowing into his conscious.

_"What about Miss Martian?"_

" _She can take care of herself and get Superboy too. That's her job right now; and ours is getting Aqualad to safety."_

He didn't like hearing the voices from nowhere, the voices that seemed familiar but they didn't.

A flash of red appear in his vision; watery void of Atlantis hovered beneath the ocean wave's, Tula swam, hand-in-hand with Garth.

" _Quick, over there!"_

The waves crashed as the voices from nowhere sounded again; Tula and Garth were pulled out of sight.

He felt words rasp against his throat, but they were swallowed up the rushing water.

" _Shush, Kaldur. Quiet now."_ a woman soothed. A cool hand but callous, pressed to his head gently, soothingly, sliding against his cheek.

Immediately, he calmed. _Mother?_

* * *

"I forgot how much I hate it when he does the ninja thing." Kid Flash muttered in Robin's absence as Artemis carefully observed their patient, her head pressed to his forehead.

His face relaxed from its look of twisted anguish into one of peace; as if he were sleeping.

Artemis breathed a sigh of relief. "I think he's quieting down."

* * *

**Qurac**

"I don't see the ship." Kid Flash sighed, setting down Aqualad's gurney as Robin glanced at his GPS and went wandering over the site. "Do you think we got the location wrong?"

"No...I definitely put a GPS locator on it..."

Artemis sat down by Aqualad and checked his pulse. "I think the night air is helping Aqualad cool off but finding the bioship sometime today would be a good idea."

"It's here!" Robin said triumphantly, sweeping off a heap of sand that was really a very cleverly disguised piece of cloth and really the bright red exterior of the bioship. "Let's get him inside before we're short a leader."

They rushed onboard and located the small medical area and folded out a bed to lift Aqualad onto; it took all three of them, since they were all tired and he was heavy. After Aqualad was settled, Robin ran to the bridge to begin filing the mission report, urging them to call if Aqualad got any worse.

"It'd be nice if we had a whole tank of water," Kid Flash grumbled as he rummaged for the medical supplies.

"Well, we don't," Artemis retorted, getting several cold washclothes and a bucket of water that she carefully just spilled over Aqualad and it seemed to help. "Let's just make sure, he doesn't die." she scowled. "M'gann shouldn't have flown off like that!"

Kid Flash shrugged uncomfortably. "Well, leaving a teammate behind isn't very heroic."

Artemis pointed at Aqualad. 

"But he has us! Superboy has  _no one_!"

"Point. I just hope she knows what she's doing,"

Aqualad's delirious mumbling had finally stopped and his vital signs were getting better with each splash of water.

* * *

His mother was humming quietly as water sloshed over his skin and a cold compress of seaweed pressed to his temple.

 _~Hey, everybody! I got Superboy! He's back to normal and we're on our way._ ~

His eyes jerked open in shock as he sat up rapidly with a gasp. "Who are you? And how did you get inside my head?"

A blonde girl glanced at him and pushed him back to the cot. "Don't move; you've been without water for awhile."

~ _Hello! Aqualad's memories!~_ a girl's voice rang in his head; the same one that had spoken before. _~Don't worry; I'll help you as soon I get back; I'm flying as fast as I can but Superboy's heavy."_

~ _Hey!~_

 _~Aw, man, I forget to get a souvenir from the mission!~_ another voice groaned.

_~Don't worry,~ Mi'gann giggle. " We got the souvenir thing covered.~_

"Why are all the voices in my head?" Aqualad demanded of the blonde girl. "Where am I? Who are you?" Definitely _not_ his mother. "And what about my memories?"

"We're friends, you're in our ship, I'm Artemis and you lost some of your memories-six months worth. Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine, I promise."

"What - "

" _Please_ breathe," she urged. "Calm down, you are  _safe_ ,"


	3. Mission First

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite the name, Robin is a Bat and he always keeps his cool even minus some key memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Ao3 Update - Sept 17th  
> Originally posted on June 26th   
> Crossposted - Sept 20th

 

Robin felt his eyes flicker, squinting shut in defiance before he felt a breeze and grits of sand got under his mask. His eyes snapped open, clearing away the last visages of a dreamless passed-out state. It was dark. Sand shifted under his body, sands trailed over his cape and into his gloves; Batman's protegée, Batman's _son_ , spat out gritty sand that had gotten into his mouth and sat up.

The desert wind blew pass him and the desert moon hovered high above him in a cloudless sky but not alone; there were thousands of stars.

Robin felt his eyes protested and he moaned, pressing a hand to his head as he felt a headache come on. He could barely think straight.

**Food. Drink. Shelter. Sleep.**

He found one of Alfred's home made nutrition bars and a small flask of water. The bar was gone in five bites; too fast and he would make himself sick. Then he chased it down with water, checked his belt for more water; there were three small bottles left.

**Shelter.**

He found his feet slowly and stood there for a few minutes to make sure he wasn't going to collapse into the sand again. He took several deep breaths and slowly turned a cartwheel and then another, sweeping his leg upwards in a kick to get the blood circulating again.

Just ahead was a tall rock spire at least twenty feet wide and a good walk away. He couldn't quite trust himself _not_ to tumble down this dune he was standing on.

He pulled out a grapple and launched it, feeling it dig into the rock face. He release the retract button and let it drag him through the air as he curved his body upwards into the air and landed on the rock spire. It flank several other spires that had formed in a way that would make the perfect shelter. Robin jumped down from the tallest and unto a ledge, swinging beneath it and finding a nice covered place.

Robin curled up and pulled his cape over his head.

**Sleep.**

* * *

Robin woke up in the sort-of cave, curled into a ball with his cape wrapped around him, the bright heat of the sun just barely creeping into the shadows of the cave. Robin narrowed his eyes against the unwelcoming light and ducked his head into his cape, blocking out the glare of the sun as he struggled to he remember how he got here in the first place.

Right...he woken up in the middle of the desert and retreated to safer shelter. The Boy Wonder untangled himself, muscles stiff from sleeping on a rock all night.

The sun was glaring when he stepped out of the cave. The sun was already as its zenith and the heat had shot up considerably from the night before. His boots slipped; his hand shot out to balance himself on the base of the rock spire as he stumbled through the sand, waiting for his body to catch up to his brain.

The rumble of a machine and a dust cloud alerted him.

 _Peopl_ e?

**You don't have to be suspicious of _everyone_  but be aware _._  Be alert. Everyone _must_ prove themselves to you. As an ally or an enemy.**

By the time the people had become clear, Robin was perched on the rock spire overhead. He could see them clearly; two gunmen perched on a dusty, desert colored humvee. One hung from the side, the other was standing on the inside, standing through a sunroof. Both wore brown armor and uniform of various shades and made no move to scan the terrain as their vechile passed; they kept their gaze trained straight ahead.

As the humvee receeded into the distance, Robin frowned. "Those were Bialya Republic Army Uniforms. But what are Biyalians doing in-" He checked his digitauntlet and brought up a holographic screen with a map on it. _"Biyala_? Better question; what am _I_ doing in Bialya." His eyes spotted the date on the bottom of the screen. "In _September? !_ What happened to March? Better radio Batman."

He touched his fingers to the earbud piece.

_" **Maintain radio silence at all time**_ **." Batman instructed, standing in a front of a large holographic display of the Bialyian map.**

Robin paused. "Or...not."

 _But I don't know how I got here! No memories from the last six months!_ He took a breath. _Calm down. You can handle this yourself._ Robin flipped down from his perch on the rock spire. A piece of dark cloth caught his eye and he walked over to inspect it; it was a red Superman 'S' logo on a piece of black fabric.

_Superman's 'S' on a black fabric? What's going on here? Where did it come from? And it's torn._

Robin tucked it away into his belt pouch and turned on his digitauntlet again to get a bearing on his surroundings, noticing two blips; his current position and...

"A GPS Marker." He paused. "It's worth a look." He shaded his eyes to get a positing on the sun before turning back to the holographic map, turning it off and taking off at a steady jog across the desert.

* * *

Robin just managed to scale the cliff as a hail of bulletfire erupted behind him, peppering the sand. The machine gun swung upwards missing the cape by inches as Robin ducked into a shallow crevice.

He caught his breath, hearing men shouting in Bialyian. Grapple hooks clanged against the cliff face; bullets peppered the rocks uselessly. A resounding boom and the sound of rock exploding outwards shook the cliff. "Time to disappear..." Robin gathered six throwing disks into his hands, each flashing lights as he sent them hurtling through the air.

One solider watched interestingly as one disk stuck to the window of one of the Humvees. The passengers leapt out seconds before the electrical shock blew out the windows, coursing like hungry snakes through the van. The gas tank exploded.

Black smoke erupted out of three of the disks, enveloping the light of the dying desert afternoon in a thick of black smoke. The remaining two disks spun through the air and slashed through cables; Robin snickered to himself, fingers skittering over the touchscreens controls of the digitaunlet. "Video games _do_ improve hand-eye coordination after all."

Robin whipped out another disk with his free hand and threw it into the cloud of smoke; a muffled boom and a geyser of sand shot up from the smoke cloud. Robin pulled out his grapple and leaned out of the cliffside cave, sending the grapple hurtling to the top of the cliff where it dug into the rock firmly. Robin released the retract button gliding upwards and taking the opportunity to kick the one remaining solider off the cliff. He flipped to the top, releasing the grapple and taking off.

Item One: Find a place to wait it out until night fell and he could run without risking a heatstroke.

His next move: reach the GPS location, retrieve memories, find out what the mission is and finish it. Do not contact anyone. Find the memories and finish the mission. The orders were clear and the mission came first.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robin doesn't really have much missing material going on...well, hopefully it was to YOUR satisfaction because we all known that writers hold themselves to almost impossibly high standards.


End file.
